New gym class consists of nothing but sleeping

David Lloyd Clubs is launching a new health and fitness class that consists of nothing but sleeping. Byline John Nguyen/JNVisuals

Published:15:48Friday 28 April 2017

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The frantic, stress-inducing nature of modern life means that few of us seem to get enough sleep, and if you’re a parent, regularly getting your full 40 winks becomes even more of a luxury.

With this in mind, family fitness brand David Lloyd Clubs is launching ‘Napercise’ – a new type of wellbeing class for exhausted parents that consists of nothing but climbing into a bed and having a sleep.

Being trialled for the first time this weekend, the Napercise classes consist of 45-minute sleep sessions that are designed to help reinvigorate the mind, body, and even burn the odd calorie.

Upon arrival in the studio guests will find the spin-bikes swapped for single beds, and upbeat workout tunes ditched in favour of atmospheric sounds, to create the perfect environment for the soporific sessions to take place.

The studio temperature will also be dropped to a level that promotes calorie burning during sleep. Napercisers will be invited to curl up in one of the beds and indulge in some restorative mid-afternoon shuteye, before continuing on with their day.

The development of Napercise is inspired by past academic studies into the important health benefits that napping in the day can bring1. This includes helping boost alertness, alleviate feelings of anxiety or stress, and improving your mood.

She said: “Sleep is a lot more important than people realise. We tend to focus on the short-term effects such as being tired or lacking concentration, but it is also essential for our long-term physical and mental wellbeing too.

“In addition to a lack of sleep bringing with it a higher risk of developing anxiety or depression, when we are sleep deprived we lack the energy to exercise regularly, and also the mental clarity to make good decisions about the food we eat, which could negatively impact our physical health in the long-run.”

Napercise arrives in the wake of research from David Lloyd Clubs among parents that found 86 per cent admit to suffering from fatigue, with over a quarter (26 per cent) regularly getting less than five hours of sleep a night. Stress and anxiety meanwhile were found to be the biggest reasons for lack of sleep (43 per cent), followed by being kept up by babies/ children (26 per cent) and long working hours (17 per cent) in second and third respectively.

The negative repercussions this is having on people was also revealed with 70 per cent confessing that a lack of sleep makes it difficult to complete their everyday tasks effectively. 19 per cent admitted to having had a kip work, 11 per cent have found themselves drifting off while driving, and five per cent have even forgotten to pick up their child from school due to their tiredness, illustrating the seriousness of the issue and subsequent need for new steps to be taken to tackle the problem.

A spokesperson for David Lloyd Clubs said: “According to our research, 86 per cent of parents admit to regularly suffering from fatigue which is alarmingly high when you consider the important role getting a good night’s sleep can play in our overall mental and physical wellbeing. Here at David Lloyd Clubs, we’re always looking for new ways to tackle the issues that everyday families face, which is what ‘Napercise’ sets out to do.

“Filling an exercise studio with beds might look unusual, but if it proves to be a success, we’re definitely excited at the possibility of rolling out the programme to more of our clubs down the line.”

Depending on the success of the trial, David Lloyd Clubs will also look into rolling out the sessions to more of its clubs across the UK in the future.